[lit-ideas] Re: What's wrong with the world
- From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2012 05:26:55 -0800 (PST)
I do appreciate your comments. First a correction though. The article
reprinted in SOTT is from Psychology Today, December 2011. Historically,
however, childrearing has been abysmal, and worse. Chomsky says we're getting
more civilized, and if we are, it's because we're getting something of a clue
that if you mess up children, you mess up the adult that that child becomes.
The generalizations in this article from a historical perspective are far
fetched in that they whitewash child rearing, making it seem that the only
deficits are in allowing babies to cry, as bad as that in itself is. Most
people assume that that's what babies do, they cry.
Children historically have been not only neglected but severely abused. As
recently as the end of the 19th century in the U.S. the women who crusaded for
Prohibition changed the age of sexual consent from 12 to 15. It's estimated
that three quarters of all children in India are sexually abused. A child
trafficking ring was recently broken up in Ohio I think, or some Midwestern
state. And actually it's even far worse than that. William Blake wrote about
chimney sweeps (ages 4 to 7) and Charles Dickens wrote about the schools. This
is in civilized merry old England.
There are always exceptions to rules, and some individuals, probably a growing
number, do treat their children well, but as a species we treat our offspring
just horrifically. Historically wife beating was routine and accepted. Wife
beating is now considered domestic violence in the U.S., but spanking is
perfectly legal, as long as no bruises are left, yadda yadda. Well why not hit
a wife as long as no bruises are left? If parents had a clue, gave their
offspring what evolution deemed they need, the world could be turned around in
a generation, two generations maybe. And that's a fact. War, btw, makes
things far worse, and we're now talking about invading Iran after what we did
in Iraq and Vietnam, so we're not exactly going out of our way to improve
things.
Here is a link. It's called Horrible Histories because of form, not content.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n6_gESTFVk&feature=related
Andy
________________________________
From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2012 9:53 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: What's wrong with the world
How quickly they forget. From their infancy to their first words and steps, we
brought up our children according to the commonsense advice of Benjamin Spock.
And so did everyone else we knew.
'Generations of children around the world have been reared on Spock's fatherly
advice, dispensed in a simple, straightforward and reassuring style. Indeed,
Spock's book became the modern bible of baby care, and he himself enjoyed near
universal acclaim as America's favorite doctor."
His Baby and Child Care was first published in 1946, and the eighth edition is
still in print. I'd bet a fair sum that far more children have been brought up
according to Spock's theories than according to those of B. F. Skinner and his
ilk.
The sott. net article strikes me as bad history 'supported' by and in turn
putting forward far-fetched generalizations. Any 'survey' of Western child
rearing practices that fails to mention Spock is a monument to the ignorance
Andy routinely deplores.
Robert Paul
> And this is before all the spankings and brainwashing and who knows
> what all.
> http://www.sott.net/articles/show/239869-The-Dangers-of-Crying-It-Out-
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